On Tue, January 6, 2009 07:55, Jerry Schwartz wrote: > >>-----Original Message----- >>From: c...@l-i-e.com [mailto:c...@l-i-e.com] >>Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 9:47 AM >>To: mysql@lists.mysql.com >>Subject: RE: how to design book db >> >> >>Just theories here: >> >> >> >>The same book re-issued by another publisher might have a different >>ISBN. >> >> >> >>A book with an insert (e.g., CDROM) may have a different ISBN, but be >>the "same" for some purposes. >> >> >> >>And mistakes can be made... >> >> >> >>Ultimately, I suspect that the uniqueness of ISBN to what normal folks >>call the "same book" is not as clear as one would hope. >> >> > [JS] I'm really glad I was able to eavesdrop on this conversation. I had > no > idea the ISBN issue was so murky. > > For better or worse, most of "my" publishers don't use ISBNs; many of them > don't even assign product numbers. > > I guess the only way around it is to assign your own unique key. >> The problem is books from different publishers are different editions and need to be differentiated. If you take a class the professor will want everyone to be looking at the same edition. If he hands out errata sheets and the second publisher corrects the first (or has new errors) things will get confusing. Author and Title would be the alternative index unless your system doesn't care about whether the book has a CD or not. I think our local library decided to come up with their own IDs since they have both hardcover and paperback editions of the same book. Even though the paper back and the hardcover were the 'same' book, if I had lost it I would objected paying for a hardcover if I had lost the paperback.
Just my $0.02 worth. ------ William R. Mussatto Systems Engineer http://www.csz.com 909-920-9154 -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql?unsub=arch...@jab.org
